"Thithi", "Ottaal", "Parched" and"Angry Indian Goddesses" are among the 50movies that would be screened at thefifthIndianFilm Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) to be held here from August 11 till21.
Themed on 'Women Empowerment', this year's edition of the festival will screen movies in 17 different languages.
Leena Yadav-directed film "Parched" will be the opening film, while Pan Nalin's "Angry Indian Goddesses" has been announced as the closing film of the festival.
Thefestival will feature a special awards night, a flag hoisting event by Bollywood star Rish Kapoor anda Q&A sessionwith festival guests like Vidya Balan andRicha Chadha.
The program was officially launched byMind Blowing Films head Mitu Bhowmickin the presence of Melbourne based Consul General Manika Jain at apress conference held here yesterday.
Commending Bhowmick's effort to runthe Bollywood festival successfullyevery year on a theme,Jain said that Indian government was currentlyworking on 'Festival of India' initiativeto be held this yearwhich will furthershowcase Indianarts and culture Down Under.
Bhowmick said the opening night will screen Leena Yadav directed film 'Parched' followed by theawards night the next day that would present musical performancebyPakistani singer Sarah Haider, award-winning singer Shalmali Kholgade and other notable local performers.
Likelast year, IFFM celebrationswill coincide with the Indian Independence day and this yearRishi will hoist the tricolorat the iconic building ofFederal Square in Melbourne.
A Bollywood dance competition, a charity initiativeevent would also be part of this year's festival.
The festival will also announce the awards in the categories ofthebest film, best actor, best director,best actress, and best Indie film.
The nominations for bestactorinclude Shah Rukh Khan for "Fan", Nawazuddin Siddiqui for "Raman Raghav 2.0", Ranveer Singh for "Bajirao Mastani" andManoj Bajapi for "Aligarh".
In the female category nominees includeSonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Radhika Apte and Rituparna Sengupta.
The best film nominations included "Neerja", "Kapoor & Sons", "Bajirao Mastani" and "Raman Raghav 2.0."
IFFM has been dubbed as an important Indian cultural event for Melbourne drawing over 35000 attendees last year.
